As I sit here, contemplating how to put all of this into words, it still seems so unreal.  God continues to amaze me with his faithfulness. He doesn't just provide for our needs, He goes over and above what is necessary by providing abundantly, and extravagantly blessing us.

My husband and I are currently in an unexpected season. I have been learning so much about having faith and trusting God implicitly.

On Tuesday, God came through for us in not one, but TWO beautiful ways.

The first one was subtle. It only dawned on me later in the day how God had planned every detail perfectly. My husband often has to travel away from home for work. As much as I miss him when this happens, God's hand was at work.
We heard on Monday morning that there was talk of him working away for a while. On Tuesday the details were confirmed. He would be away for 10 working days and get paid a daily wage for being there, on top of his normal salary.
Once hubby told me the details, I accepted it and realised that it would help us out financially.
Later, when I worked out the total amount of his added pay, the final amount equated to the EXACT amount of my previous salary. I realised this while talking to my mom and almost wanted to laugh in amazement and joy, as this was no coincidence. Our God is detail oriented. He is precise. He cares about the little things, and He showed us this in the way He provided for ALL of our expenses for the month ahead.

On top of this, my husband had stopped at the church on the way home to meet a friend. He came home, us both giddy with excitement from our earlier realisation, and presented me with a letter. We opened the letter and enclosed inside was an exorbitant amount of money, which a very, very special person had blessed us with.

We sat down on our couch and prayed. God exceeded and went above and beyond our expectations. We were so humbled and honored and blessed & resolved to be good stewards of the gifts we have been given.

The previous Sunday night at church, God had also impressed on my heart, two people that He wants me to trust for, to be at our church's annual men's conference. He told me quite clearly that I need to buy two conference tickets and to pray and fast and trust for their salvation.

Now he has provided the resources for us to buy those tickets on top of sorting us out as well!

How beautiful and wondrous! I wish I had more words that I could use to describe the incredible miracle He did for us.

I hope this example of God's provision encourages you. This is also not just about financial provision, but about answers to prayers. Prayers for loved ones and prayers for change and revelation. He hears you. Keep trusting and resting in Jehovah-Jireh, our Provider.

I think this must be the best way to deal with a Monday. And every other day as well, in that case.
A cup of coffee, the fresh morning air, birds chirping, this view and spending some time with God.
I was initially tempted to stay in bed a bit longer, but this was so much better. Prioritising the most important thing helps give me perspective. First things first.

I am currently reading Joseph Price's book, "Unmerited Favor" and wanted to share some excerpts with you.

"Our Savior is altogether lovely. He is never early, never late. He is always at the right place at the right time. He is always in perfect peace and there is no sense of hurry about Him. When it was time to be tender, He was infinitely gentle. When it was time to overturn the tables of the money changers, he did it with passion. He was never frazzled by the Pharisees' attempts to trip Him up and He was always flowing with divine wisdom. He is steel and velvet, meekness and majesty, perfect manhood and deity. This is Jesus, and you are in Him!"

And another excerpt that spoke to me very directly this morning:

"If you are caught in a situation and you don't know what to do, it is time to humble yourself and ask the Lord for wisdom. The Bible says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him." To ask the Lord for wisdom is to say, "I can't, Lord, but You can. I give up on my own efforts and depend entirely upon your umerited favor and wisdom." As you receive His wisdom, riches and honor, as well and long life will follow after you. Run to Him right now!"

Wow. Light bulb moment. All of this seems so simple when we talk about it or encourage others, but when God plants this in your heart and gives you a revelation of what this means, that is something spectacular.

I have to ask this of God daily, but I hope I never stop.

It seems simple enough. But there is something inside all of us humans that wants to strive to achieve things, to be an accomplished person. To have many skills and awards and to have done things that make people take notice of you. We want to stand out of the crowd. What God has been reinforcing in me as of late, is that none of those things qualify us for His plan for our lives.

His plan has nothing to do with how qualified or how learned we are. He qualifies us in spite of our short-comings, in spite of our lack of skills. This was quite a hard thing for my human mind to grasp as I set out planning my future.
I might not be the best designer, I might not be the most educated person, but because of His grace, he has placed a great and mighty calling on my life, as well as on yours. This applies in your job situation, your family situation, your friendships, your health, your marriages and every other area of your life that you can think of. God doesn't limit His grace only to certain areas. He wants us to be wholly and completely blessed.

I am still figuring all this out as I go along, but a great friend lent me this book by Joseph Prince. WOW. The more I learn and read about God's unmerited favour and grace, the more I am humbled and I am learning to have peace and to REST in His perfect timing.

So for those of you who are with me in the "Trusting and Waiting" business, may you learn, as I am learning, to rest in the beautiful arms of Jesus.
xxx

Photo by Kim Du Toit Photography

Ah Monday.

This morning I sat down at my computer and went through my emails, looked at blogs and did nothing particularly productive.
Then I just felt overwhelmed. Last week presented itself with a big whack of news and BIG challenges. I don't think I had fully dealt with all of that properly. And today it hit me.

Later I read this in the daily devotion that I sign up for.

Faith is the ability to trust what we cannot see. John Shedd says, “A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” Faith is willing to take risks, embrace the unseen and step away from the safety of the shore.

Woah. Prophetic? Last year my friend and I collaborated on a some designs called "The Magic Girls Poster Series" where we designed a poster with a quote applicable to each "Magic Girl."



The quote chosen for me was "A ship in port is safe, but that's not what ships are built for."
This quote has yet again reaffirmed it's significance in my life.
Taking a step (or leap) of faith my be overwhelming at times but, as said by one of my incredibly wise friends, "Our faith is ignited when we act upon it."

So here is to taking deep breaths, leaps of faith and getting your ship out of the harbour.

Photo by Tiffany B | Photographer

If this quote resounds with you too, the poster is available for purchase here.

As some of you may know, hubby and I have been staying in Bloemfontein for the past 5 weeks now.
It was out 1 year wedding anniversary on Monday the 4th of February! We did a bit of research about what the traditional gifts were and for year one it is simply, paper.

My thoughtful husband bought me an amazing sketch book (I love how he constantly encourages me!) with the most beautiful letter written inside and I made him this little drawing/poster. 
(Hoping to do lots more of these...)



It seems applicable for this time in our lives, especially now, us being away from friends and family and our home church.

I saw this little cushion at the shops yesterday and had to buy it! 


Now it is on the bed in our guest house and re-enforces the words on the poster. Wherever we are together, is Home. :)

Just yesterday I was writing about how I fear "putting my designs out there" and my work not being good enough, and then today I got this post on my Facebook wall.

Thank you Tam, for encouraging me and thank you Lord, for your timing.

As today is the first of the month, it means it is time to post my next scripture memory verse! (Every 1st and 15th of the month according to the challenge!)
I read my Bible this morning, but it was only later this afternoon, when I was reading this blog, that I decided on my third memory verse. This verse moved and spoke to my heart so beautifully. Alyssa's writing is so gentle and beautiful and I saw God's heart and promise to me in reading her blog today.
She explains it best, so have a read here.

Here is the verse:
"For the Lord God is a sun and a shield: the Lord bestows favour and honour. No good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless."  - Psalm 84 v 11 (NIV)

(Will be working on the poster, I promise!)
xxx

This is actually a catch up post, more so that I don't forget to make up a poster for this verse!
(Accountability and all that!)
Thought I would share it in the meantime anyway.
Here is my second memory verse:

"You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on you. Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the Eternal Rock."
- Isaiah 26 v 3-4

Excited to build up my scripture memory storage bank! ;) 
Hope this verse blesses you!
xxx

See, I'm working on it! ;)

Hi Friends!

I though I would share something that I have been challenged to do. I came across it while reading this blog and clicked on a link that took me here.

It is a scripture memory verse challenge, which involves memorising 2 verses a month. Pretty do-able I think! I love this idea because, I'll admit, I struggle to make time to sit and read my bible. I know God has SO many promises hidden away in there, and I feel like this is a way of motivating myself to find even more of them!

Now the other part of it is that I want to try and create a scripture poster for each memory verse I learn. This has been something that has been on my heart for a while now, but I always get scared when I have to start something where it means I have to put my 'designs' out there...

This is where fear and worry start to get into my brain. I worry that my style is not cool enough, not 'hipster' enough and that people just won't like it! I feel like I know how to design pretty things like wedding invites and cards etc, but there is more that I want to explore. I want to explore other mediums and develop a better understanding and appreciation for typography.

So this marks the beginning of my challenge. I have included the first memory verse 'poster' in this post. I hope that throughout the year my knowledge of scripture grows, as well as my design abilities.

But mainly, I hope that God speaks to you through the verses that I post, and that you might even do the scripture memory challenge yourself! Here is to a year filled with God's promises!

xxx

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I must admit that I was a bit scared. OK, so maybe more than a bit. The thoughts swirling around my head at that stage would probably make you laugh now!

“Is this IT God? Have you had enough of us sinners to end the world now?”
“Is the roof about to cave in? Will the force of the rain shatter the window panes and flood us as we sleep?”(Yep, maybe a bit melodramatic!)

But at the same time, it made me aware of the POWER of our Creator.
Its easy to think of God as loving and caring and all those other good things, but we often forget to FEAR Him and be in AWE of Him.
We forget how mighty and powerful and extreme our God is!
Experiencing the force of the rain, the screeching of the wind, the shock of the lightening and the deep roar of the thunder, reminded me of who made all of that. Crazy!

In the middle of the night I had a “Moment of Sudden Glory.”
I experienced the power and the force of the Almighty God.
And in that moment I felt peace.

After almost a year of being married, a change of jobs, and much learning and growing (spiritually and emotionally) it is time for a new chapter to begin.

Chapter 31 has always been on my heart.

I have yet to discover what God has in store for it, but I am trusting that by being obedient and STARTING (always the hardest part!) He will bless it and mould it and shape it into something that will be used to glorify Him. And because he knows the desires of my heart, something that I will be able to take great pleasure from.

So here is to a new year, new seasons and new chapters!



 Photos from our wedding day taken by my amazingly talented friend, Kim Du Toit.

No, this is not about an engagement ring! But to me, this ring holds a promise just as special.

Emerald green has always been a colour that I loved. My matric dance dress was emerald green, and my eyes are green, so I figured this colour and I work. 
A while back, while at a gifts market with a friend, I happened to come across a stall selling jewellery made with precious stones and gems. I peeked at the rings and saw a very unusual green stone. I enquired and was told that it was a rare, uncut, rough emerald. Very hard to come by. I thanked the stall owner and left to browse the rest of the gifts on offer.

However, this emerald ring was stuck in my thoughts.




Another day, back at the gift market, my friend had wondered off and then came back with an exquisite moonstone ring. She had bought if from the same stall where I saw the emerald ring. I asked her if she had seen the emerald, and she had told me that it was still there! I hurried off to have a look at the ring again (and the check out the price).

Now, to put this story into context, the day before this all happened, I had paid all my monthly expenses and was left with a very sad and measly amount of money to use for the whole rest of the month. And when I say sad and measly, I am definitely not over-exaggerating. It was dire.
And so I had an evening filled with tears and feeling sorry for myself. An evening filled with worrying and faithlessness and selfishness. I lamented about the fact that I work so hard and yet at the end of the month and all the hard work, there is not even enough left to treat myself, or buy just a little something pretty. Thankfully, I am married to a man who has much perspective and faith, and so we spoke it out, and prayed and left it to God.

And our God is faithful. Which is what I learned in a big way over the next few days.

Back at the market, I peered around for the ring and found it. The stall owner, a wonderful lady named Sharon, had recognised me from my prior visit and encouraged me to try the ring on. Not only that, but she took off the price tag and told me to go outside into the natural light to get a real feel for the gem! Seeing this rare, unusual ring on my finger was something quite special, but knowing that I couldn't afford it at the time was a bit of a downer. However, I sucked it up and went back inside to say "thanks, but no thanks."

Now Sharon is not any ordinary shop owner. I told her how beautiful the ring was, but that unfortunately I couldn't afford it at the time, and if it was still there on the last day of the market, maybe I would come back and who knows? Sharon, however, does not believe in "who knows" and "maybe's." She told me that this ring belongs to me, and that she was going to take if off the shelf and keep it for me until the last day of the market. On that day, we would make a plan. Bottom line, she had decided that the ring was not going to anyone else but me.

Some of you might believe this to be a very clever sales pitch, but right at that moment, my God spoke to me and told me that that ring had my name written on  it. I left Sharon, overwhelmed by this promise that God had just whispered to me, and the tears fell. In those next precious moments Jesus once again reaffirmed that He KNOWS the desires of my heart. The desire for beautiful things, things that most people would deem frivoulous and unnecessary, but things that He knows bring me joy. 

He spoke to my heart and told me that that the emerald ring would be a constant reminder of the fact that He loves me THAT much, that He would shower me with beautiful adornments all because I am His child. Nothing I do is deserving of that kind of lavish blessing. The ring was a promise of His faithfulness in every circumstance (good and bad) and a constant reminder of the lesson He had just taught me. The lesson that He will provide for all my needs and desires if I only trust Him.

In that moment I knew, with absolute certainty, that by the end of the market, I would have that ring. In the days that followed, my sister blessed me with some money towards the ring and my wonderful hubby had sold enough leather products to make up the difference.
God made a plan!

On the last day, I went up to Sharon, with an envelope containing the full amount that the ring cost, received my ring and a big hug from the very special stall owner.

I am not sure if she knew how integral she was in God's lesson for me that week, but she played a huge part. A ring might not mean much to you, but a ring with a promise from God is something to be treasured. Now, whenever I feel like I don't have enough or when I begin to worry, I am reminded by my God's personal and visable promise to me. That He loves me, that He knows all the desires of my heart and that He will provide for my every need.

He is faithful.
I hope this little story encourages you and reminds you that our God cares deeply about every single detail in your life.

xxx